Chekhov's gun

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Chekhov's gun is the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but whose significance does not become clear until later on. For example, a character may find a mysterious object that eventually becomes crucial to the plot, but at the time of finding the object, does not seem to be important.

Although many people consider the phrase "Chekhov's gun" to be the equivalent of foreshadowing, the statements the author made about it can be more properly interpreted as meaning "do not include any unnecessary elements in a story". So the idea is not to introduce a plot element early if it is going to be used, but to not introduce the element at all if it is not going to be used.

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[edit] Statements of Chekhov's principle of drama

The name, Chekhov's gun, comes from Anton Chekhov himself, who stated that any object introduced in a story must be used later on, else it ought not to feature in the first place:

  • "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." Anton Chekhov, letter to Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev (pseudonym of A. S. Gruzinsky), 1 November 1889.
  • "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." From Gurlyand's Reminiscences of A. P. Chekhov, in Teatr i iskusstvo 1904, No. 28, 11 July, p. 521.’[1]
  • "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." From S. Shchukin, Memoirs (1911)

[edit] Examples

An example can be found in the twin pistols of the title character in Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, which make an appearance in the first act but are not used to important effect until the last act.

An example in which Chekhov himself makes use of this principle is in Uncle Vanya, in which a pistol is introduced early on as a seemingly irrelevant prop and, towards the end of the play, becomes much more important as Uncle Vanya, in a rage, grabs it and tries to commit homicide.

A parody of Chekhov's gun is found in the "Pro Thunderball" episode of Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central. The Thunderball field features a "Gun Circle," an area of the outfield featuring a loaded gun. However, use of the gun at any time is absolutely prohibited. In the episode, the Chekhov's gun principle indeed comes true when a player shoots the gun during a game. [2]

The Winchester rifle in the eponymous pub in Shaun of the Dead is also a literal "Chekhov's rifle" in that it is introduced early in the film and is discovered to be a functional weapon later on.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ In 1889, twenty-four-year old Ilia Gurliand noted these words down from Chekhov's conversation: "If in Act I you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the last act". Donald Rayfield, Anton Chekhov: A Life, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997, ISBN 0-8050-5747-1, 203. Ernest.J.Simmons says that Chekhov repeated the point later (which may account for the variations). Ernest J. Simmons, Chekhov: A Biography, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1962, ISBN 0-226-75805-2, 190.
  2. ^ http://www.uprightcitizens.org/11/rules.html

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